If there can be such a thing as a short long night, Saturday was it for No. 20 Hawaii. It was short in that the Rainbow Wahine were swept by No. 22 San Diego 25-23, 25-13, 25-21 in just 95 minutes at the Stan Sheriff Center, opening 0-2 for the second straight volleyball season.
The long of it? First-year head coach Robyn Ah Mow-Santos had the team head immediately to Gym 1 for a postmatch practice, eschewing interviews and delaying the meal provided by the boosters for over an hour.
There were few bright spots during the second match of the Texaco Rainbow Wahine Invitational for the Wahine, who lost to a ranked opponent for a sixth consecutive time dating back to 2015. Senior Emily Maglio continued to display her versatility, moving from outside hitter in the first two sets to middle in the third, finishing with a team-high 11 kills.
Freshman middle Sky Williams continued to impress, following her 12 blocks in Friday’s debut with seven on Saturday to go along with eight kills and a team-high .318 hitting percentage.
But there was little else, as a disappointed crowd of 4,134 would agree, as Hawaii (0-2) heads into today’s 5 p.m. meeting with No. 13 UCLA (2-0) in the tournament finale. The Bruins have won the past three meetings in the series that dates back to 1974 and is tied 37-37.
In Saturday’s opener, the Bruins turned back Marquette 25-16, 25-20, 20-25, 25-23.
In today’s 2:45 p.m. match, the Toreros (1-1) take on the Golden Eagles (1-1).
The “fighting spirit” that Ah Mow-Santos liked despite losing to Marquette the previous night rarely materialized against the Toreros (1-1). Hawaii continued to give up runs of points, the most costly being five straight at the end of Set 1, which seemingly dictated the rest of the night.
It was the opposite feeling on the opposite bench for San Diego, which rebounded from being swept Friday by the Bruins. The Toreros switched from a 6-2 (two-setter offense) to a 5-1 and rode the arm of senior opposite Jayden Kennedy for 17 kills and a .500 hitting percentage.
“I was really happy to see our team finally get some things together. We had a pretty poor performance the night before and it was good to see them bounce back,” USD coach Jennifer Petrie said. “Having one setter (senior Kristen Gengenbacher) tonight was about having some consistency and some experience out there.
“Set 1 was a neck-and-neck battle. We passed well and we served well. At the end, Merve (senior Tanyel) came up pretty strong, served three straight. I think, like a lot of us this early in the season, Hawaii is still trying to find itself, figure out the chemistry and what’s going to work.”
Things did not work well for Hawaii almost from the beginning. It was deja vu all over again, with Friday’s slow start and slower finish repeating itself on Saturday.
UCLA 3, Marquette 1
Freshman hitter Mac May put down 17 kills and the Bruins avoided going to a fifth set with a late run in Set 4 against the Golden Eagles. Senior hitter Reily Buechler added 11 kills and 12 digs and senior libero Zana Muno 18 digs for the undefeated Bruins.
UCLA led Set 4 6-1, only to have Marquette lead by as much as 20-16. The Bruins chipped away, outscoring the Golden Eagles 9-2 to close it out, including a 3-0 serving run by Buechler that gave them match point.
Sophomore hitter Allie Barber led Marquette with 18 kills and freshman Hope Werch added 11 kills and 10 digs.
